Archives for October 2015

Despite entering the 2015 season with the highest of expectations, the Ohio State football team has, by all accounts, struggled through the first five weeks of the season. Despite compiling a perfect 5-0 record and extending their nation-leading win streak to 18 games – and their road game win streak to 15 games, the top-ranked Buckeyes have heard nothing but grumbles from their fan base. But Ohio State fans need to realize one thing: even though the offense isn’t tallying 1,000-yard/60-point outings each week, this Buckeye football team is exactly where we should want it to be.

For the sake comparison, I’d like you to bring two very memorable seasons to the forefront of your mind – the 2002 season and the 2006 season. Those two Ohio State football teams entered their respective seasons with drastically different expectations, and the style of their week-by-week outcomes had just as much contrast – other than the one main constant, winning.

Ohio State entered the 2002 reason ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll, following a loss in the Outback Bowl the previous year – Jim Tressel’s first year at the helm. Throughout the season, and en route to completing its undefeated national championship season, OSU won seven games by seven points or less, including two overtime wins. Every week seemed like a heart attack-inducing grind offensively, but the Buckeyes got the win every time it stepped onto the field. Fans’ hope skyrocketed as the season progressed, but expectations kept us grounded – all the way until the team defeated the big, bad Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl.

Fast-forward to 2006, when the Buckeyes came into the season as the No. 1 ranked squad and perceived national championship favorites. That team had too much speed and talent throughout its lineup, the pundits said. With Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith dazzling fans each week – paired with the deep wide receiver corps of Ted Ginn, Jr., Anthony Gonzalez, Roy Hall, Brian Robiskie and Brian Hartline, and Antonio Pittman and Beanie Wells at running back – the offense just couldn’t be stopped. Outside of one-score wins against Illinois and second-ranked Michigan, the Buckeyes steamrolled their opponents throughout the season – as “steamrolled” as possible in the Tressel offense – as they advanced to the national championship game against the Florida Gators.

The correlation I want to make is that the 2015 Ohio State football team – the first team ever to be unanimously voted as the preseason No. 1 team – entered the season with the expectations of the 2006 team, but through its first five games, has performed at a level comparable to the 2002 team. While it has been frustrating for fans who have expected offensive fireworks on a weekly basis, Buckeye Nation should actually find some level of comfort in the team’s struggles.

Unlike the 2006 team that was able to coast through the majority of the season and read its press clippings as the anointed “champion-to-be”, the 2015 Buckeyes are starting to be doubted, blasted, mocked and disrespected. Those things equate to the extra hunger and motivate that propel teams with chips on their shoulders to greater things, whereas the lack of those traits often lead to the sudden demise of a much-lauded and much-favored team.

No matter what any Ohio State fan says – if the 2015 Buckeyes continue to plug away and record one ugly win after another en route to a 15-0 record and a repeat national title, all of us will enjoy the ride.

Before I get into the meat of this article there is an issue that I would like to address. It is pretty obvious that coming off of a national championship the Buckeyes have not played quite as well as we had hoped they would. News flash! This game is not easy. It is easy, however, to tell when a fan actually knows anything about football and when they are just a blow-hard trying to be a tough guy by tweeting at OSU’s 18-22 year old players telling them how bad they suck and how much of a disgrace they are. If you are one of these football experts PLEASE do us all a favor and delete your Twitter. No one cares what you have to say because you are ignorant. Truth hurts.

Now that I’ve got that off of my chest, let’s talk football! There is something that every one of us needs to remember when watching the Buckeyes and yelling at the TV screen. Urban Meyer knows more about the game of football than all of us combined. In case you’ve forgotten, he has won THREE national titles. One of those titles happend to be for our team just last year. That being said, can we please stop questioning the QB decision?! If JT was out playing Cardale in practice than he would be starting, but he is not! Not to mention even when Jones has been benched and JT was put in, the offense did not run any better that it did with Cardale. I’m going to say this again it’s URBAN MEYER. Trust your coach and support his decisions. If you watched the post game interview right after the game was over when Indiana was one play away from tying the game up, Urb looked like he just got done telling a dirty joke to the coaching staff. He wasn’t worried. If Urban looks confidant, we should too.

If you want to  question a coach/ coaches it’s the offensive coordinator possition  being run by Ed Warinner and Tim Beck. There is no rhythm or consistency to our offense. Guys look out of sorts and confused at times. This my friends is an issue! I don’t know if this means that Urban needs to just take it over and run it himself or what, but after six games it is not much better than it was early in the year.

The point to this article is to simply say trust your coach. He is the best in the business. We may end up losing a game or two this year, (yes I know it’s hard to believe) but not even Urb is perfect. We could easily slip up on a team we should beat, but that is football that is the way it goes sometimes. That’s why they say repeating is so hard, but if anyone can do it, it’s Urban Meyer!

Last week saw the return of Ohio State’s high-powered offense, which produced 500 yards for the first time since week one. The defense remained stout, reining in Western Michigan’s passing game and holding the Broncos to just 12 points. Michigan held steady production-wise, and managed to not turn the ball over at all while their defense manhandled BYU stunning shut out that landed the Wolverines at #22 in the AP poll, the same spot BYU held going into the game. Both defenses now rank in the top 10 nationally in terms of points allowed.

The Big Ten season opens for both teams today, and so begins the journey to The Game. Despite a couple of lackluster games, Ohio State is still in the driver’s seat for the national championship. Michigan’s strong non-conference showing has added a new sense of excitement for the season-ending clash. Michigan State is the primary hurdle for each team on the road to that face-off, but both will get the Spartans at home.

Today, both Ohio State and Michigan head out on the road again after three straight home games, all wins. The Buckeyes take on the somehow-undefeated Indiana Hoosiers, and Michigan pays a visit to the floundering Maryland Terrapins, reeling from last week’s beatdown by West Virginia.

The Michigan/Maryland game has been moved from an 8:00 kickoff to noon to avoid complications from Hurricane Joaquin. This is a significant blow to Maryland, who could have certainly benefitted from the electric atmosphere of a night game. While a Terrapins win would have still been a long shot, it’s almost an impossibility now. The weather will barely even impact Michigan’s game plan, which has settled into about a 60-40 run/pass split, and Jim Harbaugh probably wouldn’t mind leaning even more heavily on his running backs against a Maryland team that ranks 101st nationally in rushing defense.

There shouldn’t be much rain in Bloomington on Saturday, but Urban Meyer would like to unleash a storm of deep throws on the Hoosier’s dismal pass defense (#127 out of 128). That this was a point of practice emphasis following a rash of underthrows last week is a happy coincidence, and one that should be of utmost concern to Indiana. But Ohio State must take the Hoosier attack seriously too: Indiana ranks 18th nationally in total offense, higher than any team the Silver Bullets have faced so far.

If Ohio State and Michigan continue to progress throughout the Big Ten slate, then that meeting at the end of November—the 112th between the two programs and the first between Urban Meyer and Jim Harbaugh—will be the renewal of a rivalry that hasn’t been truly competitive in nearly a decade.

Many of us remember the commitment of the next “Percy Harvin”. We remember the hype and the build-up for this true freshman at the time, and his name was and is Dontre Wilson.

Let’s start with his recruitment. Dontre was an elite offensive athlete in the 2013 recruiting class from Desoto, Texas. According to the 247composite, Dontre was the 71st ranked player in the class of 2013, and the 6th ranked All-Purpose Back. Obviously, being from Texas, there was a slight draw to become a longhorn, but another school greatly drew his initial attention. With his elite speed, that is apparent whenever he touches the ball, nearly all of the major schools in the country were attracted, but there was one specific school he liked.

In the spring of his junior season, Dontre Wilson verbally committed to Chip Kelly and the Oregon Ducks. At first look, this would be the perfect fit for him. The flashy uniforms, the elite offenses with some NFL success, and certain success for people with similar builds as Dontre, such as De’Anthony Thomas and LaMichael James. Dontre was the star and excitement of Oregon’s 2013 recruiting class.

In late 2012, after some fear of punishment for fear of recruiting violations, there were persisting rumors that Chip Kelly would leave. Then, on January 16, 2013, Chip Kelly was announced as the new head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. The rumors were true, Chip had left. Dontre and other Oregon commits were in a tough position. For the moment, though, Dontre decided to stay committed to Oregon to see how things would pan out.

On January 25, 2013, a few days before signing day, Dontre Wilson took a visit to Ohio State. He got to meet with the staff, and the players and see the spectacular facilities the Buckeyes have in Columbus. J.T. Barrett even conducted his famous speech to try and persuade him to become a Buckeye during this visit. With the lack of play-makers on the team at the time, Dontre were a near necessity for the team. The coaches showed him how he would play the H-Back position, and made it clear that he would certainly be an immediate contributor.

Then on February 4, 2013, the elite play-maker from Desoto, Texas decided to commit to the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Obviously, since he committed in February, Dontre was not an early-enrollee. He came on campus in the summer of that 2013 year along with the majority of that star-studded recruiting class.

Soon after that, the Dontre Wilson Hype-Train began. “I feel like he better be starting this year,” Braxton Miller said at B1G Media Days in 2013. “He can run any route, he can come in the backfield and take a handoff. … He can catch the ball and he bolts like a little fish running from the sharks or something. He’s fast man. I’m glad to have him on my team.” “Dontre looks to be a special player,” former starting safety, Christian Bryant, added before the start of his own final season. “With the speed, and his agility, just when he catches the ball, you can just see how he moves. He’s going to be a special player.”

Many players and fans alike had incredibly high expectations for Dontre Wilson. Many expected him to put up the same numbers as the player who made the “H” position famous, Percy Harvin. Unlike many of us fans, Urban was more realistic with Dontre.

“We’ve got to slow down on Dontre,” Meyer said with a smile at B1G Media Days in 2013. “We’ve gotta slow down.”

Soon enough his freshman campaign began. Dontre was expected to be a vital play-maker that everybody was craving, and with Carlos Hyde suspended for the first several games of the 2013 season, many hoped to have Dontre carry part of that missing load.

The first game of the season was against Buffalo, and now star NFL player Khalil Mack. Dontre certainly showed some glimpses of a bright future which added even more hype into his name. He ended with 3 rushes for 11 yards, 1 reception for 18 yards, and he had a kick return for 51 yards.

Throughout the season, and the lack of big plays, the hype dramatically died for Dontre. Some even began to call him a “bust”. He finished the season with 22 receptions for 210 yards and 2 TDs, along with 31 rushes for 250 yards and 1 TD. He also added 523 kick-return yards to his all purpose stats that added up to 983 yards that was ranked 4th on the team.

Although Dontre ended up being 2nd-team freshmen All-American, and had those stats as a true freshman, most people, including Dontre were frustrated with that season. “I feel like I could have helped the team more,” Dontre admitted after the Orange Bowl loss in 2013. “I did what I could with the reps they gave me, but I think next year with more reps I will help the team more.” “I always joked around with my teammates and said, ‘I’m the Decoy of the Year,’ ” he said. “Every time I do a fake or something, we scored.”

A reporter then asked if that season as a decoy was fulfilling, Dontre said “Not really, man. I wish I could get the ball 30 plays a game, but it’s all good.”

Soon after the Orange Bowl, heading into Dontre’s true sophomore season, the hype started to build again, and perhaps in a more dramatic fashion than before. “Wait until you see him next year” was a popular phrase by Urban. It definitely showed that the coach had a plan, and believed in the potential of Dontre Wilson in his offense.

The off-season before his sophomore season was when Dontre really started to evolve into a wide receiver. “He couldn’t play receiver last year, he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. Didn’t know how to do it,” Former Offensive Coordinator, Tom Herman said during that off-season. “He was 175 pounds or whatever the heck he was. So him and his ability limited us, and ability doesn’t just include running fast and making guys miss. There’s a lot that goes into ability and usability in the offense. {He} has had a great off-season and really took to the position and is still learning.” At one point during the off-season, Zach Smith mentioned Dontre Wilson as one of the only players in that unit that was game-ready at the time.

Now, the 2014 season came along with some more huge expectations for Dontre.

This time, his team was very inexperienced in every area of the game. Nobody was really certain how the team would turn out to be. Dontre and the Buckeyes played a difficult team in Navy with their triple-option offense, and a fairly unique defense. Like the previous season’s first game, Dontre had a very good game. Without the speed and agility of Dontre, I think the team would have had a much more difficult time trying to get the win. He ended the game with 6 rushes for 43 yards, and 2 catches for 46 yards, along with several nice punt returns.

Like the one before, as the previous season progressed, the “hate” on Dontre increased. One of his main critiques is that he is always so close to making a big play, but he never does. That seemed to be a pretty decent evaluation as he had some struggles with the new WR role.

Nov. 8th in East Lansing was one of the worst public nights for Dontre Wilson as a Buckeye. He had several embarrassing drops that would’ve led to some big gains, and he also had two fumbles on kick returns. Mistakes like that in games like that are very harmful to the team and individual. But, what everybody didn’t understand about this bad game was the circumstances surrounding it.

First, he had just become a father just that week to his son, Neko, and during the game Dontre suffered a fairly harsh broken foot. When all seemed lost for him, he did what play-makers do; Dontre made a big play. He caught a late TD pass from J.T. Barrett to seal that monumental game for the Buckeyes’ season, even while he was in pain with his broken foot.

Dontre’s season was mostly over for the exception of 3 plays against Oregon. The 3 plays were solely for respect of Dontre, because the coaches thought Dontre was a main reason why they got to that National Championship. But they didn’t want to cause any further injury, so they just gave him a few simple snaps.

Dontre Wilson had some complications with his foot after the initial surgery, so they decided he needed another one. Because of the second surgery, Dontre would be extremely limited through spring camp, and even fairly limited during Fall Camp.

Also, Dontre was one of the 4 Ohio State players suspended for the 1st game of the season against Virginia Tech for a violation of athletic department policy. Fellow H-Back, Jalin Marshall, who many fans favorited over Dontre due to his great games in the absence of Dontre was also suspended.

With Dontre and Jalin both suspended, somebody needed to step up, particularly against VA Tech. That player, of course, was QB turned WR Braxton Miller. Not only is Braxton one of Urban and the fan’s favorite players, he is also a prime-time play-maker, as evidenced by the spin move you have probably seen 1,000 times. So, with Braxton’s emergence, it was yet another thing getting in Dontre’s way.

Dontre entered this season with certainly lowered expectations, partially due to the huge spotlight on the QB competition, but also due to the fact that the team is currently stacked with play-makers.  In his first game back against Hawaii, Dontre played very few snaps and had zero touches. Then against NIU, Dontre again played limited snaps, and had a mere 3 receptions. In both of those games, the offense greatly struggled. That brought up the argument of if this team has too many play-makers, and not enough ball to go around.

After two years of failing to live up to hype that was impossible for anybody, it almost seems that Dontre is now more a back-of-the-mind type players. Urban knows that Dontre is definitely a play-maker, and he does deserve to get the ball. “I see a guy that’s dynamic and a guy that does deserve more touches,” Meyer said when asked about Curtis Samuel Wednesday (9-30-15) after practice. “Dontre Wilson deserves more touches. Zeke probably needs a few more. Then that kid Braxton Miller deserves a few more.”

It would definitely be easy for Dontre to “whine and complain” about not getting enough touches. He was a blue-chip recruit out of high-school, and a guy that was talked up to be Percy Harvin, or even Tavon Austin. With Urban’s culture, though, Dontre knows to go out there and do whatever he can to get better and help the team.

So, will Dontre ever step up and be that next level guy? Who knows. Will he do what the coaches tell him? Yes, or he won’t play. Dontre understands that, and he knows that with all the talented players on the team, he needs to take advantage of whatever opportunity is given to him. You wish Dontre could get the 30 touches a game like he said after his freshman year, but that simply isn’t possible. He will just have to trust that Urban and WR Coach Zach Smith will do whatever they can to make him the most successful Dontre Wilson that he can be.